“Unconscious Bias” Lets Us Off the Hook

Another day, another survey highlighting gender inequality in the workplace. Shockingly, as this article makes clear, many acknowledge the data but believe it has nothing to do with their own workplace. And one of the canards rampant in the tech world is that “unconscious bias” is somehow the culprit. This is a wonderful way to let us all off the hook. Numbers don’t lie. When women are paid less and don’t rise to executive positions, or when your diverse workforce can be counted on one hand, there’s nothing unconscious about it. It’s time to do the real work of changing ingrained thinking and rigged systems that exclude “the other.” All the diversity programming and sensitivity training in he world is not going to change the numbers if we don’t acknowledge the real obstacles to equality of opportunity for everyone. The only way to correct systemic bias is to correct the system. That’s why T. H. Easter Consulting approaches every engagement with the inquiry, “what’s really going on?” You can’t fix what you don’t face.